By Kevin McCauley
San Francisco’s WCG has established W2O Group holding company to retain the nimbleness and entrepreneurial drive of the fast-growing healthcare company, founder/CEO Jim Weiss told O’Dwyer’s.
Pearson |
PR veteran Bob Pearson, WCG’s chief media & technology officer, becomes president of W2O Group. He joined WCG three years ago after stints as GCI Group (Americas president), Novartis (head of communications), and Dell (VP group corporate communications) and State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund (vice chairman).
Pearson, who has known Weiss for more than 20 years, told O’Dwyer’s “we wanted to restructure early in our growth” to avoid development of a cumbersome corporate bureaucracy. Launched in 2001, WCG chalked up $47.7M in fees last year, making it the sixth largest independent firm.
Weiss said the new structure increases management opportunities for staffers, which he considers a major priority.
He noted that Jennifer Gottlieb, WCG’s biopharma practice leader, helms a new entity called Twist, which is positioned as an agile “forward-thinking independent communications firm.”
Twist joins W2O Ventures in the new set-up. It’s the “incubational arm” of the organization and is focused on local search/analytics, engagement platforms, mobility and augmented reality.
WCG, which has expanded from its healthcare core to sectors such as consumer goods, entertainment, automotive, aviation and technology, has offices in New York, Chicago, Washington, Austin, Los Angeles, and London. |